The abrasives industry generally concerns abrasive products comprising binder and a plurality of abrasive grains which are used to abrade a workpiece (e.g., stainless steel). Desirable abrasive grains are hard, tough, and chemically resistant to the workpiece being abraded. The hardness property is associated with the abrasive grain not yielding from forces of grinding and not dulling. The toughness property is associated with strength and fracture resistance of the abrasive grain.
In general, it is known that inclusion of various materials within an alpha alumina based abrasive grain will modify the characteristics of the grain. What has been sought is improvement with respect to hardness and toughness.